Olivier Leflaive, located in the Côte de Beaune appellation of Burgundy, France, is a family-run, high-quality winery and a wine merchant with a complete portfolio of wines.
Since 1717, the Leflaive family has been deeply rooted in the Puligny-Montrachet region of Burgundy. After the end of World War I in the early 20th century, Joseph Leflaive, a member of the family, failed in his steel mill business and returned to Burgundy to devote himself to the wine business, founding Domaine Leflaive. In the 1970s, Joseph's grandson, Olivier Leflaive, was a young man passionate about music and art, and with a background in economics, he had no intention of getting involved in the winery or inheriting the family business. However, after some trial and error, Olivier decided to join the family business in 1982, becoming the co-manager of Château Leflaive, running the winery alongside his uncle Vincent Leflaive and later Anne-Claude Leflaive, until his retirement in 1994.
In 1984, while managing Château Leflaive, Olivier realized that the estate's product range was limited by its vineyards. He conceived the bold idea of purchasing grapes and juice from elsewhere to make wine, which would then be sold as en primeur. Together with his brother Patrick Leflaive, he founded Olivier Leflaive Freres (or simply Leflaive).
Region
Olivier Leflaive's grapes are sourced annually from 120 hectares of vineyards, of which 17 hectares are owned by the winery itself. The remaining vineyards are primarily located in Chablis, the Côte Chalonnaise, and Puligny-Montrachet in the Côte de Beaune. Furthermore, to ensure high fruit quality, the winery employs green and sustainable methods in grape cultivation, with cooperative growers using organic and biodynamic practices.
Pommard, situated between Beaune and Volnay, is a renowned wine-producing village in the Côte de Beaune appellation of France. Within the Pommard appellation, only red wines made primarily from Pinot Noir are legally recognized as wines. The Pommard region boasts many prestigious Premier Cru vineyards, and in early 2012, Pommard submitted a report to the French National Institute of Origin and Designation of Designations (INAO) requesting the upgrade of its Premier Cru vineyards Rugiens and Epenots to Grand Cru status.
Ronsard, a critic for the *Encyclopedia of French Cuisine*, once commented on Pommard: "It's simply amazing that such delicious wine could be produced on such a small plot of land!" He later wrote in the book: "Pommard is one of the finest wines from Burgundy, a world-renowned wine region. It is full-bodied, flavorful, and leaves a lingering aftertaste, displaying the grandeur of a great wine."
Winemaking
Olivier Leflaive harvests grapes entirely by hand during the ripening season. The harvested white grapes are quickly transported to the winery, where they are gently crushed and pressed using controlled air pressure. The clarified juice is then extracted from stainless steel tanks using a sedimentation process, leaving impurities at the bottom. For red grapes, harvested Pinot Noir is packaged into small boxes and quickly transported back to the winery. There, it undergoes manual sorting, crushing, and destemming, followed by low-temperature maceration (below 14°C) to extract tannins, pigments, and flavor compounds. Olivier Leflaive's red and white wines undergo alcoholic fermentation, malolactic fermentation, and aging in oak barrels. During alcoholic fermentation, the red wine is periodically pumped onto the lees; during oak aging, the white wine is stirred regularly on the lees, depending on the vintage and quality. Furthermore, these wines are replenished weekly with evaporated liquid during aging, and some are blended after aging. After three months, they are clarified using milk protein or bentonite before bottling.
